KARACHI, June 29: The death toll in the outbreak of gastro-enteritis in Muslimabad area of Landhi Town rose to eight on Sunday with a two-year-old boy succumbing to the disease, the Nazim of Union Council No 2, Javed Azeem, told Dawn.

He identified the boy as Hasan saying that his father’s name could not be ascertained immediately.

About 80 residents of Muslimabad were provided treatment at the camp offices set up in the locality, as well as at Government Hospital Korangi No. 5, Sessi Hospital Landhi, the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Civil Hospital.

Dr Shakeel A. Siddiqui of the Government Hospital Korangi No. 5 said that no outbreak-related death had been recorded at this hospital on Sunday. He said 12 people, suffering from stomach and intestines problems, were treated there.

Dr M. Anwar of the JPMC said a few patients had been referred to his institution, but most of these people had been discharged after treatment.

He also denied any fresh fatality at the JPMC among the patients of the disease. Replying to a question about the disease, he said all clues pointed towards the outbreak of gastro-enteritis.

“In case a virus is involved, we would have seen patients from all over Karachi, not just from one particular area,” he contended.

Dr Siddiqui said the disease appeared to be coming under control.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Dr Mutawakkil Kazi has stressed the need for the replacement of all the old pipelines responsible for water contamination. He said most of the city’s water conduits had been causing pollution in potable water.

He told Dawn on Sunday that the water samples collected from the affected areas in Landhi had been sent to the PCSIR laboratories and other neutral organizations to ensure an honest testing.

He hoped that test a report on test results would he available by Monday and that it would be made public accordingly. He held out the assurance that the responsible people in the water board, if found guilty, would be taken to task.

He directed the concerned water board officials to evolve an effective strategy, in coordination with the health department, city government, and town administrations to ensure supply of clean, chlorinated and germ-free drinking water to the entire metropolis.

In response to the people’s complaints against the staff of the Sessi Hospital, where patients were denied prompt attention soon after being rushed there, Mr Kazi said that the matter would be investigated and action taken against the negligent staff.

Provincial Minister for Planning and Development Shoaib Bokhari and Labour Minister Mohammad Adil Siddiqui also visited the localities and also the patients in the hospital.

EMERGENCY: Mr Siddiqui, according to a press release, said that an emergency had been declared in all the hospitals of the Sindh Social Security Institution (Sessi) hospitals, as well as the dispensaries in Landhi and its adjoining areas, in the wake of the outbreak of the epidemic.

Assuring the people of a prompt and immediate treatment, he said that an inquiry committee had been constituted to look into the press reports that certain Sessi doctors and other staff had declined to provide necessary assistance to the victims initially.

DEMO: The Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal, Karachi chapter, staged a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club to express sympathy with the victims of the epidemic. The participants of the demonstration were holding a banner inscribed with demand for an immediate payment of compensation amount to the victims.

AL-KHIDMAT: Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, who is also Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, paid a visit to the camp set up in the affected area by Al-Khidmat organization on Saturday.

During his visit to Muslimabad, Landhi, residents people told Dr Farooq Sattar — a leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement — that they had complained repeatedly to the water and sanitation department about the supply of contaminated water. But all their efforts to get the situation improved failed.

Dr Sattar — a newly-elected MNA — on Sunday visited Muslimabad and talked to the people who fell sick allegedly after consuming highly contaminated water.

He sympathized with the aggrieved people and expressed his support to the families that had lost their members to the epidemic.